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Grades 7–12
6 Sessions: 55 Minutes Each
Informational, Media, Narrative, Persuasive
Resource type iconProjects

Signed, Sealed, Delivered: Motown Music & History

by Andrea Cisneros, Jeff Shi, Daniel Reck, & Frances Martin, 826michigan
1. Genre Study of Liner Notes
2. Listening Party
3. Close-Reading Lyrics
4. Research
5. Writing!
6. Revising, Editing, and Sharing
Students will use music as a lens to learn about a historical period and research primary and secondary sources to write their own liner notes.
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SESSION 3 OF 6
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Close-Reading Lyrics

In this session, students examine song lyrics to better understand them, as well as how lyrics work with music in a song.
What Your Students Will Learn

A good song combined with good lyrics is something to talk about. Now that our writers have taken a deep-dive into the music, we’ll move into the lyrics to think about what they’re saying, how they work with the music, and why they matter in their cultural and historical context. Through this session, students begin developing a thoughtful and evidence-based interpretation of their song. Their main goal is to practice going past the surface and think about the message or point the songwriter is trying to communicate.

What Your Students Will Produce

Writers use scholarly, analytic tools to dive into the lyrics of their songs and use clear and precise language to share what they find with their readers. They produce an annotated set of lyrics highlighting sensory and emotive language and begin outlining some written analysis for their liner notes.

What You Will Need

  • Lyrics to the same shared example song used in the previous group lesson
  • Example lyrics that correspond to an album discussed in the example of the liner notes included in the Liner Notes Example handout:
    • Stevie Wonder’s “Songs in the Key of Life”
    • Herbie Hancock’s self-titled album
    • Marvin Gaye’s  “What’s Going On”
    • Adele’s “25”
  • Printed lyrics for each writer’s song
  • Lyric Analysis Guide — Handouts
  • Liner Notes Example — Handouts
  • Guiding Questions for Writing Liner Notes — Handouts
  • Colored pens, pencils, and/or highlighters. Each writer will need 4 colors (black and blue count)

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